Dist. 26, Art. 1, Q. 1
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/26/q/bon-sent-IV-d26-a1-q1
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### Article I.
### *On the institution of the Sacrament of matrimony.*

### Question I.
### *When marriage was instituted.*

Concerning the first point it is shown that marriage was instituted *before the fall*:

1. By that which is said in Matthew, chapter nineteen: *Have you not read, that he who from the beginning made men made them male and female? And he said: For this cause* etc.

2. Likewise, the Master in the [Lombard's] text: «Although the other Sacraments took their beginning after sin, the Sacrament of matrimony is read to have been instituted even before sin.»

3. Likewise, it seems so *by reason*: because the use of marriage is for the procreation of offspring; but the procreation of offspring was befitting to the state of innocence: therefore it ought then to have been instituted.

4. Likewise, marriage exists among all peoples, therefore it is from the dictate of nature; but such things were impressed upon man from the beginning: therefore etc.

**On the contrary:** 1. Hugh of St. Victor: «The time of the institution of the Sacraments began from the point when man was cast out from the joys of paradise»; and thus it seems that marriage was instituted after the fall.

2. Likewise, it seems so *by reason*: because a Sacrament is a medicine against disease; but in the time of the state of innocence there was no disease: therefore etc. *If you say*, as the Master says, that «it was instituted as an office, not as a remedy»; then it is asked: why were not the other [Sacraments] likewise instituted as an office and afterward as a remedy, like marriage?

3. Likewise, Sacraments are visible signs of invisible things, by which man is led by the hand to the knowledge of spiritual things; but Adam did not need to be led by the hand, because «he was endowed with a spiritual mind»: therefore it was not necessary that it be instituted in the state of innocence.

4. Likewise, before the fall there was no greater disorder or concupiscence in the act of the generative [power] than in the act of the nutritive; but it was permitted to Adam to eat of *every tree*: therefore it likewise seems that it was permitted to him to have intercourse with every woman; or if not, it is asked: why was he more restricted to this act than to another?

Likewise, since after the fall we have a Sacrament which regards the act of the *nutritive* and of the *generative* [powers], and each is a *remedy*; why did Adam likewise not have in the state of innocence a Sacrament, as regards each act, as an *office*? And it seems that he ought rather to have had one as regards the *nutritive*, because the nutritive was there more in use than the generative.

### Conclusion.

> *Marriage was instituted in the time of the state of innocence only as an office; after the fall, also as a remedy.*

**I respond:** It must be said that, because *institution* regards use, and the use of marriage is a remedy and is an office, whereas the use of the other Sacraments is only a remedy: therefore the use of marriage befits not only the sick but also the healthy; and therefore its institution was twofold: one before the fall as an office, and another after the fall as a remedy. Now the use of marriage is a remedy against *ignorance*, inasmuch as it instructs [man] as a sign; and a remedy against *concupiscence*, inasmuch as it restrains it as a medicine. So too its office was in respect of two operations of the powers: both as regards the act of the *cognitive* [power], that man might see outwardly in a creature the conjunction which he understood inwardly — not, I say, that he might be instructed, but that, seeing materially what he knew, he might take delight; likewise as regards the act of the *generative* [power] it was an office, so that, because man could not by himself preserve the species, with a companion joined to him he might be able to proceed to that act of *preservation*.

1. 2. 3. From this the three objections are made clear.

4. But to that which is objected concerning the nutritive [power], it must be said that it is not a similar case, because there a continual loss occurs through heat; therefore restoration must be made frequently and from many things, not from one only. — Otherwise it can be said that loss (*deperditio*) is twofold, namely as regards the *nutrimental* and the *radical* moisture; likewise restoration is twofold, namely as regards the *nutrimental* moisture through the *tree of paradise*, and likewise as regards the *radical* moisture through the *tree of life*; and this, as Augustine says, was not only for use but also for a Sacrament. For it signified the inward nourishment of wisdom; and because wisdom is one, that food was single, although the others were many. Likewise, because in the act of marriage the conjunction of Christ and the Church is understood; and Christ is the one bridegroom, and the Church is one: hence it is that by divine institution woman is joined to man in marriage, just as the tree of life too was provided for a Sacrament. But because through sin the preservation of the *individual* was lost, while nevertheless that which belongs to the *species* was preserved; therefore marriage remained, but that tree did not remain; yet they had some sign, until Christ should be incarnate.

If it then be asked: why did Adam have Sacraments as regards the nutritive and the generative [powers] rather than as regards the other powers, such as sight etc.? it must be said that these were for use and for such
use as came from need. For Adam could neither preserve himself by himself nor generate by himself. And therefore he needed certain things which he might use; and because the use of the outer man and [his] need bore a likeness of the inner [man] — since the soul cannot live by itself, unless it be refreshed by Christ, nor likewise do good works by itself, unless it be made fruitful by him — therefore it is clear that each was a Sacrament, nor with respect to the other senses was it necessary that other Sacraments be instituted.